Episodes
Wednesday Apr 17, 2024
Managing the Stress of Job Hunting with Career Coach Darci Smith
Wednesday Apr 17, 2024
Wednesday Apr 17, 2024
Job hunting consistently ranks as one of the most stressful experiences. It triggers feelings around self-esteem, financial security, worth and purpose, all massively important areas of our lives. That's why this week I wanted to bring Career Coach and Financial Recruiter Darci Smith to the microphone.
In this episode we talk about:
- current state of the job market
- tips to be successful in your job search
- the importance in finding clarity in your needs and fine-tuning your search
- how to keep your spirits up and maintain momentum
- job hunting myth-busting!
- navigating internal job moves
- and much more!
Connect with Darci on LinkedIn
Darci's Recruitment Firm - Roklyn
Wednesday Apr 10, 2024
The Evidence Connecting Goodness and Wellbeing with Ryan Adams
Wednesday Apr 10, 2024
Wednesday Apr 10, 2024
We've talked a couple of times now about the connection between purpose, volunteerism and wellbeing... but where is the evidence? I'm all for evidence-based decision-making, so today on the podcast we're joined by Ryan Adams, the head of Strategic Partnerships at Benevity.
Benevity is a corporate purpose software that provides charitable donation-management, volunteer-management and grant-management solutions for corporations. It also happens to be my former workplace, and one of my favourite parts of the job was the data that was produced from the 1000+ clients and millions of participants. In March 2024, Benevity produced its most recent State of Corporate Volunteering Report and the data is fascinating, and for me, I couldn't help but see the connections between corporate purpose programs and an employee's wellbeing.
Ryan has a deep background in all things social impact, which we discuss in the podcast, and we also talk about:
- turning implicit understandings about volunteerism into explicit findings
- the push-pull between high participation and the quality of volunteer activities
- the fine line between being courageous and cautious in your social impact program
- the individual search for purpose in the workplace and how it ties to stress
- the connection (to be studied!) between psychological safety and acts of kindness in volunteer programs
- why hard economic times are NOT the time to pull back on corporate purpose programs
- and so much more!
Connect with Victoria on LinkedIn
Wednesday Mar 27, 2024
Workplace Purpose Through Volunteerism with Jerome Tennille
Wednesday Mar 27, 2024
Wednesday Mar 27, 2024
Multiple studies have shown that most workplace wellness features don't actually make a difference to employee wellbeing. But there is one that has been proven to work at retaining people, giving them a sense of purpose and improving their wellbeing - employee volunteerism.
Today I am joined by social impact leader, Jerome Tennille, to talk about why employee volunteer programs make such a difference to our wellbeing, how to thoughtfully develop your own program, how we can better measure impact and much more.
Check out our Less Stressed Leaders Training
Wednesday Mar 13, 2024
What Does HR Have to Do With Employee Stress with Michelle Berg
Wednesday Mar 13, 2024
Wednesday Mar 13, 2024
This week on the podcast I'm very excited to bring Michelle Berg to the mic. Michelle is the Chief Visionary Officer of Elevated HR, a fractional HR services firm that believe fiercely that work shouldn't suck.
To continue our conversation on workplace wellbeing and organizational stress, I wanted to have a frank conversation about what is the role HR can and/or should play in supporting organizations to reduce stress and burnout. In this conversation we talk about:
- How the motto work shouldn't suck is their north star and what organizations should aim for
- Whether or not engagement surveys should exist
- Workplace trends regarding stress and burnout
- Tips for transitioning employees back to the office after stress leave (and tips for leaders to see early warning signs in the first place)
- Why HR may not be the team to teach leaders about psychological safety, and the role HR play vs department leads in building psychological safety
- Why more part-time professional roles don't exist and how we can get to a more flexible workplace
And much more!
To check out the Less Stressed Leaders training go to impactfulengagement.com/training
Wednesday Mar 06, 2024
The Dark Side of Corporate Values
Wednesday Mar 06, 2024
Wednesday Mar 06, 2024
If you work for a corporation, your company website likely has some values listed on it. We believe in x, y and z. You might even have your performance assessed against it. And corporate values can't be bad, right?
In this short episode I dive into where corporate values can go wrong, and what you as a leader need to do to make sure your team are on the same page.
Less Stressed Teams training launches April 17th https://www.impactfulengagement.com/training
Hub Spot Culture Code https://www.hubspot.com/culture-code/the-hubspot-culture-code
Wednesday Feb 28, 2024
The Power of Psychologically Safe Teams with Jen Singhal (Part 2)
Wednesday Feb 28, 2024
Wednesday Feb 28, 2024
We're back for Part 2 with Jen Singhal. Last week we dove into what it takes to move a team from low engagement to a highly engaged and high performing team. We talked tangible practices to build team morale and in this episode we dive even deeper into the practices to develop psychologically safe teams. It's far more than a buzzword, and we can talk psychological safety in theory for ages, but Jen breaks down tangible tools to put it into action.
Check out Less Stressed Leaders training at impactfulengagement.com/training
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
How to Build a Sustainble High Performance Team with Jen Singhal
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
There's a common misconception that certain industries or roles are simply high-stress and that's "the way it is and the way it's always been." I don't buy it.
Today we're joined by Jen Singhal, a leader who knows what it means to build a team's performance while sustaining (in fact measurably improving!) their wellbeing. She's proven both are possible, and in this episode she graciously breaks down what it took, the tools and practices, that got her team there. Her coaching leadership style is fascinating and you'll have so many takeaways that you can implement immediately.
In part one of this episode we talk about:
- What Jen’s leadership career trajectory has looked like (10:15)
- How her background in sports impacts her leadership style (15:43)
- The unique features of leadership and goal setting as a result of team sports (18:29)
- How fun can and should be part of team dynamics (21:20)
- Balancing your teams limits (self-imposed or otherwise) (22:20)
- The importance of safety given uncertain times (25:03)
- Building high performance while sustaining wellbeing (27:02)
- Reducing barriers that were holding the team back (30:04)
- The practice that changed the game for her team (33:03)
- The rules of gratitude and celebration (36:30)
- The lived experience of psychological safety (41:00)
- Coaching through discomfort (45:30)
- Purpose in the workplace (47:40)
If you’d like to connect with Jen to learn more, find her on LinkedIn
Don’t miss our Less Stressed Leaders program on our spring training calendar at impactfulengagement.com/training
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Building Meaningful Relationships Through Employee Resource Groups with Johann Shudlick
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
An intentional employee resource group (ERG) has the ability to not only build awareness, but to create systemic change in organizations, build allyship, improve belonging, engagement and psychological safety. And all of those things... decrease workplace stress!
This week on the podcast we're joined by Johann Shudlick from Golden, a volunteer software that helps organizations (and ERGs!) to grow their programs efficiently and effectively, to save costs so they can focus on the impactful work they are doing and to make compliance easy.
In his time at Goldman Sachs, Johann took on a leadership role in the LGBTQ+ network and it was life-changing. In this episode he shares the one big thing that was a critical focus for their ERG. We also talk about:
- The career path that led him to employee resource groups (07:05)
- How ERGs boost your feeling of belonging (11:43)
- Advice for ERGs shifting from awareness building to systemic org change (14:00)
- How to achieve goals which operate in an intangible space (17:13)
- Testing hypotheses and having an experimentation mindset (19:49)
- The impact that belonging can have within an organization (25:01)
- How your people surveys can indicate intersections between belonging and engagement (29:31)
- The culture of thoughtful disagreement (36:37)
- Getting in the reps when seeking to understand (42:04)
- How Johann ended up at Golden and what they’re up to (43:37)
- The value in intentional volunteerism for ERGs (48:47)
- Trends in volunteerism (51:06)
To check out Impactful Engagement's spring training go to impactfulengagement.com/training
Resources
Golden https://www.goldenvolunteer.com/
Download the Golden App on Apple or Android
The Principles https://www.principles.com/
Wednesday Feb 07, 2024
Is Workplace Wellbeing a Bunch of BS?
Wednesday Feb 07, 2024
Wednesday Feb 07, 2024
Welcome to our brand new season of Stop Stressing Me Out, a podcast where we investigate the many ways we can decrease stress, at the root. This season we are focused on Workplace Wellbeing. To kick it off, we have to start with… what even is workplace wellbeing? Where did it originate? How has the workplace evolved as a result of wellbeing practices? What does modern workplace wellbeing look like and have we altered the definition of it?
It’s a short episode but gets to the heart of things as we kick off a 12-week season where we dive into some of the root issues of workplace wellbeing and speak to experts from around the world about strategies to improve how we experience work. It’s going to be an incredible ride, so make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast player of your choice so you don’t miss an episode.
Want to dive deeper as an individual leader? Check out Impactful Engagements Spring 2024 training schedule at www.impactfulengagement.com/training
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
As we prepare to launch our new season on Workplace Wellbeing and Stress Management, we’re pulling out a never-before heard episode which is quite timely. Today we’re joined by entrepreneur, activist, speaker, podcast host and incredible mom (among many other titles), Sarah Elder-Chamanara.
You may know Sarah from her incredible business, Madame Premier, which is all about empowering women in politics. What started as a t-shirt design business has grown into a full-fledged community that brings people together to talk about the tough issues we face today.
In a time that can feel more divided than ever, Sarah shares with us her perspective on how we can work across the aisle and meet in the middle more. We discuss:
- How Sarah’s passion for politics began (10:30)
- Fun fact about Victoria’s background in politics (13:23)
- Turning an interest in politics into a business (14:37)
- Creating a safe space for hard topics (18:57)
- How to talk to people you disagree with (20:56)
- Practicing empathy in different areas of our lives (24:10)
- Is the way government is set up partly responsible for political divisiveness (25:27)
- The value of following news you disagree with (27:33)
- Who Sarah thinks is the best in government at working across the aisle (33:12)
- Accessible ways to become more involved in politics (36:27)
- Not tying your identity or vote to a single party (38:47)
- The painful game of strategic voting and fear of vote splitting (41:45)
- Understanding how to find reputable media sources (44:28)
Shop at Madame Premier and check out their live events listings. Follow Madame Premier on Instagram.